TURKEY - IEA AND ENERGY DIPLOMACY

UNCLAS ANKARA 006981 SIPDIS SENSITIVE PARIS FOR USOECD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EPET TU SUBJECT: TURKEY - IEA AND ENERGY DIPLOMACY REF: A. STATE 223844 ¶B. PARIS 8678 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED ¶1. (SBU) Energy Officer raised ref A energy diplomacy issues with Sami Demirbilek, Energy Ministry UnderSecretary and Turkey's International Energy Agency (IEA) Governing Board representative. Demirbilek emphasized the importance Turkey gave to meeting its 90-day strategic stocks obligation to the IEA and fully supported encouraging countries to increase strategic stocks and improve data quality. He said the IEA had just completed its in-depth country review of Turkey. He expected the report to come out in early 2005 and to describe Turkey's energy policies as positive. (Turkey is in compliance with its IEA stock-holding requirements, but it is at risk for non-compliance because of growing imports -- see ref B.) Demirbilek said his Ministry was working with the Turkish Energy Regulatory Body to put in place a consumer price component to help refiners and distributors finance and maintain adequate stocks. ¶2. (SBU) Demirbilek said that he fully supported IEA-sponsored producer-consumer dialogue. He put particular importance on dialogue with and efforts to increase oil production in Russia and Iraq. Demirbilek stressed the willingness and capacity of TPAO (Turkish state oil firm) and private Turkish firms to play a role in oil sector reconstruction and development in northern Iraq. When asked if the GOT made specific demarches to Saudi Arabia and other major OPEC producers on supplying adequate oil to world markets, he admitted that he was not aware of bilateral demarches. ¶3. (SBU) Demirbilek said he had been unable to attend the December IEA Governing Board. He said that he worked closely with the Turkish mission to the OECD in Paris to cover the IEA portfolio. EDELMAN